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The Black Eyed Peas vs. Bryan Pringle

After some quick googling it looks like this one was in and out of court. I’m sure The Black Eyed Peas‘ team of lawyers outnumbered Pringle’s 100 to 1 on this. I had a hard time finding any info about Pringle so if anyone has anything please post in the comments.

Bryan Pringle in 2010 sued the Black Eyed Peas and several co-defendants, including record labels EMI April Music Inc. and Interscope Records; French DJ David Guetta, who co-produced several Black Eyed Peas songs; and several music publishing companies.

Pringle contended that the hip-hop group had ripped off “Take a Dive,” which was copyrighted in 1998, particularly a “guitar twang” melody, or “hook,” that he added in a dance version of the song he composed in 1999. However, Pringle could not obtain copyright registration for the dance version because it was deemed to not be substantially different from the original, according to his complaint.
– read more at law360.com

The Black Eyed Peas - "I Gotta Feeling" (2009)

Bryan Pringle - "Take a Dive" (1998)

I also found this more recent info. I’m not sure how these legal fees work but all I can seriously think is WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THIS WHAT PEOPLE ARE SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON??!

LOS ANGELES (CN) – A federal judge awarded Black Eyed Peas songwriter will.i.am $1 million in costs and attorney’s fees for defending against a claim that the band infringed copyright in the 2009 hit, “I Gotta Feeling.”

The judge awarded another $1.3 million in attorney’s fees to the band’s producer, and $50,000 to the record label.
– Read More HERE

Sorry, I’ve attached the wrong comment here. What I meant to say was that they aren’t good songwriters, so they need people to sample. Most of the time the song that samples is inferior as the ‘artist’ doesn’t know how to build on the sample, but sometimes they do and I guess the same goes for all derivative works.

It seems BEP are inconsistent in crediting their sources and asking permission. I don’t know if it has anything to do with how well known the songs they sample are, or not, but how is it easier to get away with using a sample without permission if they don’t credit it? The original artist will notice when they hear it anyway.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Eyed_Peas